Pages: 134-139

PEALS OF THE FIRST THUNDER. MOSCOW
133
troops fired on workers, but this rumor has not yet been verified.
Here is what they write from Moscow on the 14th of January in a private letter*:
[Then] On Tuesday, January 11, the workers went on strike in Vil­
na. Telegrams from foreign newspapers reported that there had been a series
of clashes between strikers and police. Over 30 killed and wounded;
among them many policemen and soldiers. Many arrests.
In Gomel, artisans, shop assistants, pharmacy apprentices, bank employ­
ees, and domestic servants went on strike. On January 18 the police raided a gathering
of strikers.
The police fired.
One girl was killed. Four were wounded.
Then the strike movement began to spread to the south and to the Volga
region. From Bryansk they reported on January 15 that the workers of a glass factory
had gone on strike. They expect a strike throughout the entire Mal'tsev region
and at the rail factory. In Kiev the strike began on January 17 at the large
Gretter machine-building factory, in the workshops of the South Russian factory and the Graf factory. Some of the bakers also went on strike. About Ekaterinoslav the telegrams reported: Printeries have stopped. There are no newspapers. The workers
of the Aleksandrovsk, Bryansk, Dnepr, and Yuzovsk factories went on strike.
[A strike began in Tiflis.] In Saratov**
... A strike began in Tiflis. It had already spread
(January 20) to Batum.
In Narva the workers of the flax-spinning mill (Flax-Fabrik) went on strike. They expect the workers of the Zipov'ev (?) machine-building factory and [port (clothworkers)] cloth mill to join.
20761
RIGA.
[Regarding the history of the local strike, the correspondent of the Russ[ische] Z[ei]t[un]g of
January 27 (14) reported:] We have detailed information about the Riga strike thanks to
reports to German newspapers. Here is what was written about the strike's history: Several weeks
ago, even before the Petersburg uprising, the workers of the local government shipyard,
which apparently for "political" reasons still retains the old firm name "Lange and Son," declared that they would strike if their wages were not raised. Workers from several other factories joined them. The workers' hatred was directed especially
* Further there follows a letter marked "a a". — Ed.
** Then follows a note by M. Olminsky about events in Saratov
with references to French newspapers. — Ed.

134
LENIN COLLECTED WORKS
against the foremen, who here supervised the hiring of workers. Everyone
knows that the foremen take a bribe of 10—15 rubles from workers for a job at the
factory. This payment they then deduct weekly from wages. It is understandable that it
is in the foremen's interest to discharge workers more often. The workers have beaten
the foremen at night more than once. Factory inspectors calmed the workers
with a promise of stricter supervision of the foremen. A few days ago emissaries
arrived from Petersburg and Moscow who tried to provoke a strike at the Baltic
Wagon Factory (several thousand workers). Wednesday morning the workers were already
walking in large crowds through the streets, in perfect order, completely without
drunkards (a rarity in Russia!— notes the German correspondent) and forced one
factory after another to stop work. In this way, within 21 hours they managed
to stop work at all the factories in Riga and the suburbs. But, unlike previous
strikes, the movement [bears] now often has a political character. It is a mass
demonstration. [Yesterday there was a clash of some 50,000 workers with troops, which led to the well-
known bloody events on the Dvina.] In the city theater representatives of the polytechnicum
appeared during a performance and forced it to stop. The theater was immediately
closed. Workers with red banners march through the city. Revolutionary speeches
are being made.
Here is a letter from an eyewitness to a bourgeois-democratic newspaper:
[When the strike movement spread from Petersburg to the Baltic region and Poland — the great
proximity of these areas to the border made it possible to describe events not only from short
and, of course, biased telegrams, but also from reports by correspondents. We are borrowing
some of these correspondent accounts.]
R i g a. January 21 (14) \ As I write these lines, from the theater boulevard come,
mingled with the roar of a snowstorm, cries [(das grausige Johlen)] of an excited
crowd. From a distance it is hard to make out the nature of the approaching
sounds. But, like me, thousands of Riga's citizens hear them and involuntarily
connect them with news from Petersburg and Moscow, which has spread throughout
the world. Since yesterday no fewer than 50,000 workers, that is, all the local workers,
have gone on strike on the initiative of Petersburg organizers. The students not only
joined them, but even took a leading role. One Latvian proclamation
Fr[ankf]urter Z[ei]t[un]g. I II [19]05, 1 Morg[en]bl[att].

RIGA
135
of the S.D. union sets forth, like many others that have circulated here in recent days,
the reasons and occasion for the strike [not very coherently (in beidein Gewirr (?)) [From the Ed[itorial]. We ask readers
not to forget that before us is a correspondent from a bourgeois German newspaper, at war
with German S.D. His remarks are wholly permeated by a bourgeois point of view. For Russian workers
it is especially instructive at the present time to become acquainted with the assessment which
European liberal bourgeois, looking from a relatively distant vantage point, give to their struggle).] 
Throughout the entire proclamation [on the whole] one can clearly see
a passionate desire for liberation from tsarism, which oppresses everyone like a heavy stone. [Specifically, however,
the impression from the proclamation is rather like that from a kaleidoscope·] First of all, there is a declaration
of solidarity with the Petersburg advance fighters, who sought a path to the tsar, going to him
with a priest and a cross leading the way, and who were shot down in masses for this. Then
follow demands for a short working day, increased wages, better treatment, a constitution,
an end to the war in Manchuria. [Mixed with all this are curses upon capitalism and the system of wage labor
under the present piece-work and daily-work payment.] The proclamation ends with cheers for the
revolution. "Workers! Forward, forward, forward!" [(The liberal bourgeois tries to be ironic. It seems
to him that the combination of political and economic demands is "incoherent." For us, in this combination lies
one of the greatest guarantees of the strength of the movement. — Ed.).']
This manifesto is written, it is true, fervently, passionately, tersely and
forcefully [(glühend u[nd] feurig, gedrungen u[nd] wichtig)], but it lacks here a broad
base and a firm point [(feste Spitze)]. The local workers are for the most part
not interested in the strike (? and 50,000? Ed.) and would like to continue work,
while on the other hand the political tendency is insufficiently emphasized, and here
there is neither emperor nor ministers to present demands to (? did not [the author] crib
this from New Spark on workers and [bourgeoisie] those in power confronting each other face to face?
— Ed.\ Posters from the governor were pasted up at all intersections a while ago,
forbidding any gatherings in view of the criminal intentions of the workers and
threatening the use of military force against the slightest resistance. Despite this
prohibition crowds of workers with cheers for the revolution demonstrate in the streets,
and against the cathedral five shots have already been fired from the crowd at the troops
standing there. Fortunately, no one was wounded. The shooters escaped.
. . . It grew dark. The snowstorm continues. Windows are covered with
ice. The howling of the wind fills the entire house. In the neighboring room lies
the shot husband of my Russian landlady [(der erschossene Quartierherr meiner russischen Wirtin)].
Friends brought him here a quarter of an hour ago. In the lower floor three
seriously wounded students have been brought. The noise and cries from the boulevard, which I heard
just now, were cries of horror and rage during a terrible battle that took place
on the bank of the Dvina and unexpectedly claimed a large number of victims. I cannot
sit at my writing desk.
I am on the Dvina together with many of the public, whose curiosity and sympathy
for the fighters have overcome their fear for themselves. In front of a house, the lower
windows, doors, and walls of which are shot through, there lie about 17 [small boats]
boats of the dead and wounded. Red Cross sleighs [(? Leichenschlitten)] have arrived. Both living
and dead were picked up and taken to the hospital. Standing near me is
[a sturdy] hunchbacked woman [(starkknochiges Höckerweib?)]. Her legs fail her,
and she falls. Soldiers and the public silently watch the traces of blood in the snow. About
thirty paces from us on the steeply sloping embankment falling into the Dvina stand
several men and women who run down onto the ice, talking hotly about something and
gesticulating.
I ask what is going on. They answer: a crowd of thousands, consisting of workers,
foreigners, onlookers, and revolutionaries, wanted to surround the troops under the leadership
of students; one gendarme was killed by a shot from the crowd; the troops answered
with a volley, in response to which there were more shots from the crowd \
Then the crowd of the little interested or cowardly participants scattered in all directions.
The mass rushed onto the Dvina; many were pushed [onto] the ice from the embankment
by soldiers. The ice near [the stone] embankment stones was mushy and collapsed.
A huge mass of people disappeared under the ice and was swept away by the swift
river!
"Disperse! Do not gather, or we will shoot!" — I hear the cry. My neighbors
to the right and left scatter. I jump into one of the building doorways, into which several
people dash. From the cathedral comes the sound of the bell: an alarm! But the public
did not rush to the place of the fire in view of the late hour and bad weather.
The next day it was quiet. The arrival of the Cossacks, following the massacre,
made no impression. Near the German theater a large crowd of people of all classes
gathered when students of the polytechnicum organized a mourning demonstration in honor
of their comrades who had fallen the day before.
A large detachment of infantry appeared. The commander of the detachment
imperiously demanded that the banner be removed. From a window there was hung
a large black banner with the inscription: "You died for the fatherland! Glory
to your memory! Vengeance on your murderers!" The students refused the demand
and instead began to wave the banner from the windows of the second floor.
It was still light. The entire polytechnicum was surrounded by troops, and an order
was given to take the banner. Soldiers began to move toward the entrance. The students
drew revolvers and knives.
The director of the polytechnicum, however, managed to intervene at the last
moment and persuaded the students to agree to remove the banner after the end of [the mourning
(Trauerfeier)] the memorial service. The officers and soldiers had to stand and listen as speakers,
in passionate speeches, before an audience standing bareheaded, with cries of "hurrah"
and the waving banner, with solemn singing of "Eternal Memory!" praised the feat of
the deceased and swore to avenge them. [The mourning] The memorial service lasted
a long time. The banner was then removed.
Now all is quiet. Only small groups of workers pass through the streets with songs . . .
In another liberal newspaper they reported from January 16:
[Voss[ische] Z[ei]t[un]g. 31 I 05].
[Riga. January 29 (16)]. Saturday's pay distribution passed quietly.
Monday work begins at all factories. Fears of new bloodshed over the burial
of a student came to nothing. On the streets the troops kept away from the funeral
procession, while the cemetery was surrounded entirely by Cossacks ready for military
action. For this reason the body had to be buried without speeches or demonstrations.
Before the coffin walked a student with a large wreath, tirelessly showing from all sides
its [gilded] red ribbon, on which in gold letters was written: "Glory [(Ehre)] to your memory!
Death to your murderers!" A mass of proclamations in Russian and Latvian were distributed,
which were either passed from hand to hand or thrown in small tied packets by the dozen
into the crowd.
Another correspondent writes [also] in the same newspaper from January 29
(16): Despite all their brutality the troops and police proved powerless here [(völlig versagt)].
There were even such things as crowds of workers surrounding policemen and forcing them
to carry a red banner before them. In a serious drama there were [thus] even satirical
episodes.
The number of dead picked up in the streets is estimated at 56 people; of the
wounded, 17 more died in hospitals. A tremendous impression was produced [(ergreifend) (?)]
by a sight never before seen in Riga: heavy carts, which usually carried sacks
of grain or iron goods, carried uncovered corpses through the streets.
Finally, here is a letter that has been sent to us by one of the participants in the events \
In L i b a u, W i n d a u, and M i t a u general strikes also broke out everywhere. From Mitau
they reported on January 14:
[Mitau. January 27 (14). Amtliche Nachrichten.]
Agents who arrived from Riga provoked the strike. A crowd of workers,
constantly growing, stopped factory after factory. Troops were called out. Workers
demonstrate with songs and banners, distribute proclamations. Patrols ride through
the city.
[Mitau. January 28 (15). The strike continues.] Crowds of workers walk the streets.
Collisions with troops have not yet occurred. [(Voss[ische] Z[ei]t[un]g).]
[Mitau. January 30 (17)]. The strike continues. The garrison has been weakened
by the dispatch of a company to Windau. There have been disorders.
One policeman was wounded. Troops have not yet resorted to the use of weapons. A battalion
of infantry and a battery of artillery have been sent from Vilna to Libau. L i b a u. January 28 (15). Yesterday evening a crowd of demonstrators destroyed
telegraph poles. This morning they were restored. There were attacks on bakeries, but
troops, having received reinforcements from Kovno, dispersed the crowd.
W i n d a u. January 31 (18). The strike was begun by the workers of the elevators,
who presented a series of demands. Then the rail[road] workers joined. All establishments
and banks are closed. The strikers are behaving quietly, gathering in the market square
and discussing their demands there. The elevator workers resumed work after being promised
certain concessions.
* 
Further there follow two brief notes written in the hand of M. Olminsky under the headings "Riga"
and "Revel" and lines crossed out by Lenin: "In L i b a u, W i n d a u, and M i t a u the same as in Revel.
In Libau, in addition, the telephone was damaged and telephone poles were broken." In place of
the crossed-out lines comes Lenin's text, reproduced below. — Ed.